June Online update

It has been another busy month, and currently I guess we must pause to catch our breath !

As regards standard tournaments:- the March 2020 is nearing its end, and we know that Mark has won but there is a battle for 2nd/3rd places;  the April 2020 has reached the final, being contested by Dave and Michael;  the May 2020 has also reached the final, contested between Dave and Brian.  The Easter Egg 960 nears the end of Round 2, with Benedict, Oliver and Ian A qualifying from Group 1, and Group 2 not so well advanced, though Brian currently has a slight edge over Steve and Michael.

As regards opening tournaments:- the King's Indian has finished, with Brian 1st, Oliver 2nd and Steve 3rd;  the French Defence nears the end, with Brian 1-0 up against Mark in the final;  same for the Sicilian Defence, with the final between Ian P and Mark;  the Ruy Lopez has Oliver leading by 0.5 from Brian, with one game to go;  in the Caro-Kann, we know that Brian has won, and second will be tied between Oliver and Steve, but there is one game to go;  the Scotch Game has Mark and Brian in the final;  in the English Opening we know that Mark has qualified from Group 1, and Brian is leading Group 2, but there are two games to finish;  in the Queen's Gambit, we know that Oliver and Ian A from Group 1, and Mark and Brian from Group 3 have all qualified for the next stage, but there is a battle between Ian P and Steve in Group 2, where Ian has a slight edge, but in the last game Steve appears to have the advantage;  in the Petrov's Defence, Mark has qualified from Group 1, and there is a battle between Oliver and Brian in Group 2, where Brian may have a slight edge; the King's Gambit is 50% complete, and it is all even between Mark, Brian and Oliver;  the Four Knights is also 50%, with Mark having a very strong lead;  in the Dutch Defence, Mark and Brian have qualified from Group 2, but there is another battle between Steve and Ian P in Group 1, though Steve may have a slight edge; the Catalan, Giuoco Piano and the Sicilian/Grand Prix Attack have just started.

As regards matches, we are also very busy:- we are 9-1 up against Monte Carlo, and 2-0 up against New York;  there has been a magnificent fightback against Glasgow after the poor start I gave the team, but we are now 6.5-6.5 and with three games to go, it appears we might still do it !; in our remaining games, we need the same kind of fight back, as we are:- 3-8 against Suffolk; 3.5-6.5 against Battersea;  0.5-1.5 against California, and 1-5 against The Vancouverites.  There is no score so far in the game recently started against The Night's Watch at Castle Black.

So it is all going rather well, though we could wish for more of the members in the club putting themselves forward. We have slipped 14 places in the club rankings, but that should change with the finish of our winning matches above.  In the coming month, my plan is that there will be a July tournament - if anyone is aware of any significant historical/cultural anniversaries in the month, please let me know so that we can include them in a vote.  If anyone wants more opening tournaments, then please make a suggestion as to which from those we have not done, but I will not be starting any of those until we complete some of the above.  We may have another live tournament with hopefully more taking part.  I will shortly be sending out a couple more match challenges, as Graham has said he will play in at least one, but we need more taking part in those too.

Keep using those little grey cells - and stay alert, as we are far from out of this yet !